Leopard-Trek: is the new ProTeam ready to pounce?

Sam Dansie of Procycling charts the birth of Leopard-Trek, Brian Nygaard's
highly-publicised new professional cycling team.

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New WorldTour order: Brian Nygaard's (bottom right) new ProTeam, Leopard-Trek, were presented at the d'Coque national sports centre in Luxembourg on Jan 6Photo: REUTERS

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Master and servant: Nygaard, the Leopard-Trek team principal, and Andy SchleckPhoto: AP

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The main man: Schleck will be one of the favourites for the Tour de FrancePhoto: REUTERS

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Team players: Frank Schleck (left), Andy's elder brother, and Fabian Cancellara will ride in support during the grand tours while the Swiss will target success in the classicsPhoto: AP

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New kit on the block: Leopard-Trek's choice of team colours and jersey design caused a stir amongst cycling fans, some of whom claimed it was too similar to Sky'sPhoto: REUTERS

By Sam Dansie, Procycling

5:30PM GMT 30 Jan 2011

Out of the blue last June, Team Sky’s press officer, Brian Nygaard, received an unexpected phone call. Luxembourg property tycoon, Flavio Becca, wanted advice about a new professional team he was setting up.

During the three-hour conversation that followed, Nygaard learned that the businessman would stump up the cash to get the team going and he wanted the Team Sky man to be general manager.

Nygaard knew an extraordinary opportunity was being presented and accepted quickly. He left Sky and within a week he announced the team’s funding basis was in place. Nygaard got the International Cycling Union (UCI) paperwork ready, began negotiating with commercial sponsors and started recruiting riders and staff.

Nygaard insists that Becca’s call was a surprise but rumours of a new team from Luxembourg had been circulating for months.

Marc Biver, a former team manager at Astana said in March that he had been approached to take on a similar role in the new team. He was later dropped from plans for speaking to the press too early. It also emerged that Luxembourg riders Fränk and Andy Schleck – who would be essential on the roster given the team’s nationality – together with their long-time sports director at Saxo Bank, Kim Andersen, had known about the possibility of a team since at least January. Indeed, Andersen was fired by Saxo Bank boss Bjarne Riis a week before the Tour de France for working on the new team. Maxime Monfort, one of Leopard Trek’s new signings, said he was propositioned by the Schlecks in the spring.

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Ultimately, Becca’s call to Nygaard was simply the point where the team became an official project. Interest in the team grew and news from the Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project kept the cycling rumour mill busy for months. Nygaard, a PR manager by trade, ensured a steady trickle of details flowed into the press.

The new the team's plundering of Saxo Bank’s resources dominated the transfer headlines between August and November. In the middle third of the year, Saxo Bank were still hunting a title sponsor for 2011 and the staff were getting nervy. Fabian Cancellara said soigneurs, mechanics and support staff were looking for stability.

The Luxembourg project was offering it; Bjarne Riis’s sponsor-less, factionalised Saxo Bank team could not. By the end of the year, eight riders and two directeur sportifs, plus key staff had swapped sides, attracted by the new team’s mixture of security and familiarity. When Frank Schleck told Procycling in January this year: “I think Bjarne can be disappointed but he cannot be angry” that he and his brother had left, the wider ramifications of their departure made his words ring hollow.

The team Riis had spent the best part of a decade building was largely dismantled in months.

At the team launch at the d’Coque national sports centre in Luxembourg, the riders were presented to a massive media corps, eager to know the project’s jealously guarded team name.

On stage, everything looked studied and rehearsed. The presentation was slick and the riders all wore matching grey suits with scarves and smiled a lot for the bank of cameras.

The gathered press learned that the name – Leopard – had been thought up by the notary who registered the company. “The more I looked at it, the more I liked it,” said Nygaard. “I think of a leopard as a sleek, strong animal and if we can do something like that as a team it will be pretty accurate.” Let’s hope Becca stays interested in cycling so the team doesn’t become endangered.

“We wanted to set up a really intelligent marketing platform for different companies,” added Nygaard. Indeed, the team’s roster is as marketable as any in the peloton. The results should flow and the team had a good look about it – a clean, successful band of brothers. Mercedes and Trek were the first partners announced but only as secondary sponsors.

Many thought the secrecy over the team name was a ploy by Nygaard to squeeze every headline he could out of the pre-launch hype. Yet it belied a deeper significance: the management hadn’t nailed down a headline sponsor. The Luxembourg paper, Le Quotidien, reported in November that telecommunications firm Belgacom was close to signing as a major backer but for undisclosed reasons, the deal fell through. Fast forward to post launch and Trek road brand manager, Nick Howe, said he didn’t know what the final team name was until mid-December.

From that point on, a team identity, bike livery, website and team video had to be produced over the Christmas holidays.

Be that as it may, the lack of a headline sponsor probably didn’ t worry Nygaard. He will not disclose the exact team budget – estimated to be about €15 million – but says Becca's contribution is “smaller than you think”. Trek are thought to be contributing €3-4m in sponsorship, meaning there’s a shortfall of more than €10m. Either the secondary sponsors Mercedes, clothing company Craft and Luxembourgish energy provider Enovos are stumping up a lot more than thought, or Becca has a larger-than-stated stake in the team.

The lack of a major sponsor certainly didn’ t bother the UCI’s team registration department.

While Australian outfit Pegasus fell to pieces and was denied a ProContinental licence because its finances were a mess, the Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project sailed through. Becca had obviously committed enough cash to convince the UCI of the team’s stability. Becca’s involvement isn’t extraordinary, he is simply the latest in a list of rich benefactors involved in pro teams, albeit one who is unlikely to be as hands-on in the everyday running as others – Bob Stapleton at HTC-Highroad and Andy Rihs at BMC Racing for example.

But all these details about how the team came into being will surely fade into insignificance.

The plot details that were so ardently reported in the off-season will give way to racing. After all, Leopard Trek is just another bike team that looks quite like Saxo Bank used to. Leopard has a guarantee from Becca for the next four years and the team doesn’t feature a rider who has attracted major scandal. It also has the pedigreed riders to win big races.

Nygaard, especially, will be thrilled. The spin behind the tagline True Racing is that he wants to focus on the riding and forget sports politics. For six months, sports politics has been top of his agenda.